Chosen Books

Invited designers and commentators have chosen these as the books that inspire them and that have shaped their worldview or their ideas about design.

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2000 books

Leonardo’s Incessant Last Supper Leo Steinberg On Milton Glaser’s Book List Add to My Reading List	East of Eden John Steinbeck On Galia Solomonoff’s Book List On Hartmut Esslinger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck On Margaret McCurry’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Selected Writings of Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein On Warren Lehrer’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Gertrude Stein On Carin Goldberg’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Family of Man Edward Steichen, ed. On Seymour Chwast’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Angle of Repose Wallace Stegner On Margie Ruddick’s Book List Add to My Reading List	A Queer History of Fashion Valerie Steele, ed. Add to My Reading List
Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion Valerie Steele On Claire Wilcox’s Book List On list of Books by Valerie Steele Add to My Reading List	Clapton’s Guitar Allen St. John On Richard Sachs’s Book List Add to My Reading List	At Last Edward St. Aubyn On Michael Rock’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Language of Landscape Anne Whiston Spirn On Craig Dykers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Notebooks of Paul Klee, vol. 2: The Nature of Nature Jürg Spiller, ed. On Richard Saul Wurman’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Notebooks of Paul Klee, vol. 1: The Thinking Eye Jürg Spiller, ed. On Richard Saul Wurman’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works Erik Spiekermann On list of Books by Erik Spiekermann On Alexander Haldemann’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Decline of the West Oswald Spengler On Eric Owen Moss’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Laws of Form G. Spencer-Brown On Neil Denari’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Visible Word Herbert Spencer On Zuzana Licko’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Pioneers of Modern Typography Herbert Spencer On Carin Goldberg’s Book List On Angus Hyland’s Book List On Rick Poynor’s Book List On Wim Crouwel’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Styles of Ornament Alexander Speltz On Massimo Pitis’s Book List Add to My Reading List	An Introduction to Design and Culture in the Twentieth Century Penny Sparke On R. Craig Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Elsie de Wolfe: The Birth of Modern Interior Decoration Penny Sparke On Susan Weber’s Book List On Dominique Browning’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Designing the Modern Interior: From the Victorians to Today Penny Sparke et al. On Susan Weber’s Book List Add to My Reading List	As Long as It’s Pink Penny Sparke On Chris Bangle’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Modern Interior Penny Sparke On Stanley Abercrombie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Yohji Yamamoto: Talking to Myself Carla Sozzani, ed. On Akiko Fukai’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Man and Nature Wole Soyinka On Cleto Munari’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary Anne H. Soukhanov On Rudy VanderLans’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Scritto di notte (Written at Night) Ettore Sottsass On Alberto Alessi’s Book List On Cleto Munari’s Current Reading list On Marco Romanelli’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Twenty Minutes in Manhattan Michael Sorkin On Paul Goldberger’s Book List On list of Books by Michael Sorkin Add to My Reading List	On Photography Susan Sontag On Jennifer Morla’s Book List On Véronique Vienne’s Book List On Ian Ritchie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Against Interpretation Susan Sontag On Deborah Berke’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Personal Space Robert Sommer On Niels Diffrient’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Masterpieces from the House of Fabergé Alexander von Solodkoff On Richard Sachs’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Infinite City Rebecca Solnit On Alexander Haldemann’s Book List Add to My Reading List	America Primo Amore Mario Soldati On Carlo Ratti’s Current Reading list Add to My Reading List	Differences Ignasi Solà-Morales Rubió On Neil Denari’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Longitude Dava Sobel On Bruce Hannah’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Snøhetta Works Snøhetta, ed. On list of Books by Craig Dykers Add to My Reading List	Conditions Snøhetta, ed. On list of Books by Craig Dykers Add to My Reading List

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Announcements

Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister

Now is Better

By Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: October 2023

Combining art, design, history, and quantitative analysis, transforms data sets into stunning artworks that underscore his positive view of human progress, inspiring us to think about the future with much-needed hope.

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Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future

By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022

Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.

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Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman

Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People

By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: February 22, 2022

Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.

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Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber

Milton Glaser: POP

By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023

This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.

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Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022

Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”

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Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition)

By Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Publisher: Letterform Archives Books
Published: October 2023

This facsimile edition of Die Fläche, recreates every page of the formative design periodical in full color and at original size, accompanied by essays that contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.

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